The unidentified woman swiped the phones at a Target store in Fairfax County on March 15.

To avoid the mad Black Friday rush (or perhaps extend it), some large retailers have come up with a brilliant solution: just open at midnight on Thanksgiving Thursday and let people start shopping then!

Via Young and Hungry, it looks like Target is giving away free groceries at Union Station today. The big box retailer, who will be opening a much-anticipated fresh grocery section inside its Columbia Heights store on Sunday (and, hopefully, retrofitting its beer aisle to something wider than two feet), is giving away out tote bags in front of the West Hall of Union Station until 5:30 p.m. If anyone reading this works near Union Station and goes to pick up one of the bags, we’d love to hear all about your haul.

In an email to the Columbia Heights listserv, Jim Graham buried this little trinket: “Target is opening a full grocery store in July and extra staff is required.” Don’t bury the lede, Councilmember! Housing Complex confirms: an upcoming renovation at the Target inside DCUSA will allow the big box retailer to be a legitimate grocery option for D.C. residents. Work should begin shortly and the store expects to be finished in October (not July, as…

Our attempt to diagram out the logic behind choosing to live in Columbia Heights, according to the Washington Post’s Monica Hesse. (Illustration by Amanda Mattos) Some time ago I asked the DCist writing staff to avoid using the term “hipster” whenever possible. It’s a word we all hear and say plenty, but I’m never quite sure what different people really mean by it. Is it just someone who wears skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors?…

Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham sent the following email out to the Columbia Heights email list just before 1 p.m.: Dear Friends, At approximately 11:30 am, Target received a call there is an explosive device in the building. An off duty MPD officer working at Target received the call and reported it to Management. Management has evacuated the building as a result of what MPD says was a phone threat. 200 persons have…

Just when people thought the Target in Columbia Heights had everything, there’s talk of it getting even more. ANC 1A vice chair Anne Theisen sent a message to the Columbia Heights Yahoo listserve saying Target has applied for a license to sell beer and wine. That application, as well as Rumbero’s application for a sidewalk cafe on 14th Street, will be discussed next Tuesday at the ANC 1A meeting. Most of the responses on the…

There’s been a lot of news and even more speculation about how dangerous the blocks surrounding the new Target, across the street from the Columbia Heights Metro, have become since the store opened last week. We posted about a series of muggings that occurred in the general vicinity, especially at the Metro entrance, within days of the grand opening. Good news: WTOP has since reported that a 16 year-old has been arrested in connection with…

We’re as excited about the convenience of the new Columbia Heights Target as anyone, but we’ve also been interested to read some of the blowback to Washington Post reporter Paul Schwartzman’s gushing piece from Tuesday about the shiny new DCUSA retail development and how it’s leading to a renaissance in the neighborhood. The Washington City Paper sees Schwartzman as wearing rose-colored glasses and painting every new project he comes across as another “renaissance” for a…

And, yeah, it pretty much looks exactly like a Target, although it’s definitely big — two full stories of bulk purchasing opportunities. We snapped these photos this morning at the brand new Columbia Heights store, which opened for business at 8 a.m….